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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Learning to Core Beads by Hand - Yikes!

So far, this has been an interesting experience. I'm learning to add a copper core to my large hole beads without using a bead coring machine. Here's what I did. I bought some good tubing on Etsy, then I rounded up some old big hole beads. I've broken a lot of beads as I have worked on developing a technique to line the beads. This picture does deserve a little bit of an explanation. I didn't want to cut out bead caps, so I used washers. The holes of the washers were too big. The cores didn't fit properly. Well, that's part of the experience though, isn't it? I had heard there were videos on YouTube that would show you how to core a bead without a machine. Couldn't find them, so off I went.

I used dapping tools and hammers.

I decided to wait and make bead caps later. These were okay for a first try, but they need to improve.
I'm still working on technique, but I am getting better.

It's still a work in progress, but my cores are better. I'm still breaking beads, so it's a good thing I have a lot of fuglies in my collection. Practice! Practice! Practice!

Soon, things will improve! Just have to work on that flare a bit more.